WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford is not open to the idea of taking a cut in pay to return to the ring in 2020.
Crawford (36-0, 27 KOs) saw action twice in 2019. He picked up a sixth round stoppage of Amir Khan in the headline bout of an ESPN pay-per-view that generated few buys. He came back in December to stop mandatory challenger Egis Kavaliauskas in the ninth round.
Crawford's promoter, Top Rank, have begun staging a regular series of live events at the MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas.
The events do not have spectators in the venue, due to strict restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Crawford's next defense has yet to be situated, which in part is due to his high guarantee per fight.
The unbeaten three division champion is one of Top Rank's highest paid fighters.
Because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, promoters are currently unable to pay high purses when staging empty arena events - citing revenue loss from the lack of a live crowd.
Some fighters have been forced to take paycuts in order to fight again.
But Crawford will not be one of those fighters. He's willing to sit out as long as possible to receive full compensation. Crawford is not willing to entertain conversations when it comes to the idea of taking a cut in pay to fight again.
“Just don’t try and tell me I have to take a paycut because of a pandemic, I don’t feel that’s right when I’ve already went through what I had to go through coming up, now you’re telling me go back to ground one and take a paycut. I just don’t feel like I can do that,' Crawford told Brian Custer on The Last Stand Podcast.
